


world

by astralcities



Category: The Adventure Zone (Podcast)
Genre: Fluff, Found Family, Friendship, Gen, Hurt/Comfort, Late Night Conversations, Post-Canon, Team as Family, sorta? there's not too much angst!, spoilers for everything past wonderland, teen for the fuck word
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2018-05-18
Updated: 2018-05-18
Packaged: 2019-05-08 09:53:31
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,465
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/14691717
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/astralcities/pseuds/astralcities
Summary: Magnus doesn't quite know how to stop protecting people, even when the fight is done.





	world

 

When Magnus gets back to his room, all the candles are lit.

“Fantasy Jesus,” Taako says as way of greeting, and tosses his feet up on Magnus’s well-loved couch like he owns it. Magnus cracks a smile at his unexpected visitor and sits down next to his friend, scooting his legs over to make room.

There’s a moment of silence as Magnus waits for him to explain what he wants, or whose house he’d like Magnus’s help in looting, or which bar they’re partying in tonight. He’ll have to pull a rain-check, not that Taako will let him without a fight.

“You look like shit,” Taako supplements.

That gets a grin from him. “That makes two of us.”

For a moment, an affronted frown ripples through Taako’s ever-present illusion of his former beauty, and Magnus wonders if he’s crossed a line. They banter more than what is probably healthy, but Magnus was there for that day in Wonderland. He knows how important looks are to his friend.

“Well, damn. Steven doesn’t deserve that, Maggie.”

They’re all good.

Neither one of them speaks, and the silence isn’t half as tense as Magnus would’ve guessed. They’ve been through a lot. Awkward pauses aren’t much of an issue anymore. Taako has something to say, obviously, and although Magnus’s bed is sounding really comfortable right now, he doesn’t push— that’s a recipe for getting Magic Missile marks that last for weeks, or at least until Merle stops laughing long enough to heal them.

Taako heaves a sigh and twists a lock of his bottle-blond hair around his fingers, acting for all the world like someone else has put him up to this, forced him into a position where he is (very ungratefully) occupying Magnus’s entire couch. Magnus knows that isn’t that case— no one can force him to do anything he’d rather not.

“Anyway,” he starts, drawing out the word. “You don’t have to do all that.”

“What?”

“That,” Taako replies with ease, not enlightening Magnus in the slightest. He tries to think back on anything that might’ve prompted this conversation— there’s no fight he remembers, no disagreement, and with Taako, he’d know. He’d never let him forget it. Not meeting his eyes, Taako leans back into the under-stuffed couch cushions.

“You can chill now. Take a break. We won, y’know?” Brow scrunching, Taako tugs at a loose thread in his neon sweater. “Saving everybody is cool and shit, but, just go easy, yeah?”

Magnus’s chest constricts at this. Sure, he’s a little tired, a little haggard, but this is what he does. This is his role, and he loves it. Even if the universe isn’t facing imminent destruction, there are always going to be people who need protecting.

“I don’t understand,” he says, and he doesn’t, because Taako knows how much they all mean to him, that he’d give up anything to protect them.

“My man—“ He takes a deep breath as if steadying himself. “You’re not like… Us. Merle and I. We’ve had a lot of time— got a lot of time. You…” Voice trailing off, his whole stance, despite the casual, graceful arrogance of it, screams tense, every muscle in the elf’s body locked. Whatever Magnus has done, Taako isn’t thrilled. Not in the way he gets when someone scuffs his countertops, or when Angus gets knocked over at soccer practice. This is something else entirely, something raw that makes Magnus shuffle around on the couch to face him.

Taako still refuses to look at him, craning his neck intently like he’s watching Magnus’s handmade table for signs of life, his fingers tapping out a beat Magnus isn’t familiar with.

“Listen,” Taako starts. “Ango’s a smart kid. I can cover that one. Lup and Barry have got each other, Merle’s a fuckin’ healer, even if he is a shit one, Davenport’s capable, Carey and Killian taught you, Cretia’s got herself protected just fine, and I’ll tentacle the fuck out of anyone that comes near.” He shifts his head, flicking back his styled hair, still reluctant to look Magnus in the eye. “You’ve had our back for… A while. Shit, forever. We didn’t, like, forget that. So just… Cool it. Take a break. Play with your dogs, I don’t know, something relaxing. Build a tank for Steven.” His voice grows quicker, his tapping more impatient. “I’ll even fucking enchant it, we’ll get Lup to make tiny little geysers or some shit.” He huffs, and Magnus misses the next words he says, overcome by the sudden realization that no, Taako isn’t angry.

He’s scared.

And yes, usually the two come hand in hand, because now that they’ve defeated countless monsters “fear” is barely a word in either of their vocabularies. Yet here they are, and both of them, Magnus included, he realizes, are very afraid.

“Thanks,” Magnus says, the word getting caught in his throat as he cuts Taako off abruptly.

His friend sits stone still, and Magnus, after all these years they’ve spent together, can see his shoulders shaking almost imperceptibly.

“I mean it,” Magnus says, and Taako takes a moment to finally face him, something wild and fierce in his big eyes. “Thank you. Not just for coming over.” Magnus lets the ungraceful words pour out, because by now they’re far past first impressions and eloquent conversations. “For being here.”

For a moment, the only noise is the creaking of wood and their breathing, a familiar song even without Merle to complete them because together, this is home.

After the seconds trickle by for what feels like an eternity, a crooked smile makes its way onto Taako’s angled features. “Yeah, well, Ol’ Taako’s gotta do something for entertainment.”

“Wouldn’t miss it for the world.”

“If you had missed it, there wouldn’t be a world left.”

“You guys are my–”

Taako scoots forward, displacing a few pillows to the scratched hardwood beneath them as he scowls. “I swear to God, Magnus, if you say ‘world’ next, I’ll go spend the night at Merle’s. This,” he gestures with a single hand, “is a sentiment-free zone, and you’ll never get a lick of it out of me.”

“Fair enough.” Magnus’s brow furrows, and he kicks at Taako’s shin with a sock-covered foot. “You’re spending the night?”

“Damn right I am. Someone’s gotta make sure you’re not watching the stars all night, or whatever sappy shit you do that prevents you from sleeping.”

A warm laugh bubbles from Magnus’s chest. “I thought this was–” he heightens his voice mockingly, and Taako bares his teeth in a feral imitation of a grin– “a 'sentiment free zone’?”

"Work purposes only. If you die of exhaustion, who‘s gonna to take Angus fishing? You know I’m banned from all the lakes around here for at least the next hundred years.” Magnus feels Taako’s weight shift, and the elf drapes himself over the couch edge to grab the wayward pillows by their tassels (not Magnus’s style, really, but as a gift from an old friend, he treasures them).

“Wow,” Taako says, holding a gaudy metallic throw pillow emblazoned with a tour date and an ax at arm’s length. “Who the fuck thought this was a good idea?” He drops it at his hip and tucks a few more poorly colored pillows beside his head and torso as if building a nest.

“You want new ones?”

“Oh, fuck no. Grab me a blanket though. Not the scratchy cheap one, either. The nice one, from Avi?”

Rising from the couch, Magnus stretches and rolls his eyes, and grabs the first blanket he touches. “Night,” he hums.

Taako nods in reply, and when the blanket comes flying in his direction he catches it with surprising deftness, considering how much of it was robbed from him in Wonderland. Draping it over himself and curling up beneath it, Taako doesn't even reach for his wand to extinguish the candles, pointing a lazy, manicured nail instead. All but two, one on the end table near Taako's feet and one leading the way to Magnus's room, flicker out with a hiss.

Magnus is halfway to his bed when he hears Taako yelp from the living room, followed by a thud.

"Wrong blanket!” Taako snarls.

He laughs, the action pulling at his tired sides. When he’s crawled safely into bed, mattress soon creaking and dipping under the weight of his dog, Magnus closes his eyes and thinks.

Taako was right, though he hates to admit it, the thought alone conjures up images of his gloating smile. This, this messy existence, this odd conundrum of peace they’re caught in after a lifetime of fighting, this new existence built on love—

This is what he wants.

The Starblaster Crew, Angus, Carey, Killian, Taako, and Merle—

They’re his world, and he wouldn’t trade them for anything.

**Author's Note:**

> thank you for reading!! please please leave a comment if you enjoyed this, i highly appreciate all feedback! this is from my tumblr writing blog, where things are posted much earlier and more frequently. pm me here or on my main, @astralcities on tumblr, to get the url!! ily all sm thank u for taking time to read this!


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